Chain of Memories: Video Game Edition
by Nicole Peach
Summary: With Ansem defeated, Sora, Tippi, Bowser, and Luigi begin the search for Riku, Count Bleck, and Mickey. Arriving at Castle Oblivion, they begin the search only to begin to forget, and for Sora that also means gaining memories of a mysterious girl named Namine. Sequel to Kingdom Hearts: Video Game Edition
1. Prologue

Sora, Bowser, Luigi, and Tippi were walking (or flying in Tippi's case) down a dirt road in a grassy field.

"So what are we gonna do now?" Luigi asked.

"We've gotta find Riku, Blumiere, and your bro," Sora said.

"What? No way!" Bowser shouted.

"Bowser, we've got to help Sora find his friend since he helped us," Tippi said. "But you know… where is the door to the light Mario mentioned?"

They all sighed, although a different reason for Bowser. There wasn't even a lead on where the door to light would be.

"Hey, we can't let us get that down, right," Sora said. They all looked at each other. Sora was right; they had to keep searching if they were to find it.

"You're right," Luigi said. "Let's follow this road; it has to lead to the door!"

"That's an excellent way to look at it," Tippi said. "There's nothing stopping us, we'll just look until we find it."

"Guys, let's go." He waved his hand forward and started running down the road, the others followed and he smiled. _Don't worry Riku, I'll find you._

-x-

It wasn't long before night fell upon the grasslands. Despite having run a long distance, they had yet to have any sign of the door to light Mario had mentioned.

"Let's set up camp here for the night," Luigi said. "We're probably safe here."

"Somebody should keep watch though," Tippi said. "You never know when the Heartless might decide to attack."

"Tippi's right, I'll take first watch," Sora said.

"You sure?" Luigi asked.

"Don't worry about it." Sora waved off the idea of a lack of sleep like it was nothing. "You guys get some rest and I'll wake you up when I need sleep."

"Great idea," Bowser said. The koopa king laid on the grass instantly, Luigi following while Tippi took a perch on Sora's head.

"You can sleep too Tippi, you've been through just as much as we have," Sora said to the Pixl.

"I don't mind staying up. You could use the company anyways," Tippi said.

Sora shrugged in response. "Okay then. Hey, you're okay, right?"

Tippi seemed surprised by his question. "I guess…why?"

"So much has happened since we first met in Traverse Town, to you especially…"

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine," Tippi said. "Worry about yourself first, you're the one every world will have to rely on."

"Yeah, that's true, and we'll have to run into everyone again sooner or later, right?" Sora asked.

"Of course," she said. "Then…" she cut herself off as she looked behind Sora.

"Tippi?" He turned around too, only to lock eyes with a cloaked figure, much like the one he'd fought in Hollow Bastion. "Hey!"

The figure started to walk off in a direction, the noise Sora and Tippi made waking Luigi and Bowser from sleep. The two were farther ahead than the waking ones, arriving at a crossroads.

"Ahead lies something you hold dear-" the figure said. "but to claim it, you must lose something first."

"Sora!" Luigi ran up to Sora. "What happened?"

"We saw somebody," Sora said. "He went that way."

"Then let's go after him already!" The four continued along the dirt road until arriving at a dark castle. It's exterior brown with green spires. A dark sky sat behind its fragmented ground.

"Something about this place seems off…" Tippi said. "Are you sure you guys want to go in."

"We really don't have much to lose, might as well," Sora said.

And with that they began pushing on the castle doors.


	2. Chapter 1: Castle Oblivion

Sora, Luigi, Bowser, and Tippi entered into the castle with interest. The interior of the castle was pure white, white walls, white floors, everything but the beige doors at the back of the room. It was plain, and slightly uninteresting.

"It looks pretty empty in here," Bowser said. "Plain and boring…some castle."

"How disappointing…after that cloaked figure lead us here," Tippi said. "Do you all want to keep searching here for anything or head back to the field behind us?"

"Well, we'll have to keep searching if we're going to find my bro," Luigi said with determination.

"What, Mario's here? Great, this stupid search will be over in no time and we can head home." Bowser laughed.

Luigi shook his head. "I don't know for sure that he's here, but…it just feels like he is."

"Really? I guess now that you mention it…it does feel a bit like he's here," Bowser said.

"Are you serious? I had the same feeling." Sora looked at them suspiciously. This was starting to get a bit weird. "All it took was one look at this castle and I just knew: They're here."

"Well, you know, great minds think alike," Luigi said with a shrug.

"This can't be right though." Tippi sighed. "I…I can't help but feel that Blumiere's hiding in this castle somewhere. But, we can't all be having the same feeling and be right, can we?"

Luigi nodded in agreement. "Something funny's going on. Something we need to look into."

"Alright, let's go then," Sora said. He started to walk towards the set of doors in the back of the room.

Luigi grabbed Sora and pulled him back. "Hang on, we don't know anything yet!"

"Oh come on, you're not scared, are you?" Sora teased the green plumber.

"You wouldn't be, we have no idea what's behind that door and you want to just open it? What happens if there's a giant Heartless like the Behemoth or Dimentio's super form?" Luigi asked.

"We won't find out just by standing here," Sora said.

"Honestly Sora, maybe you should think over what Luigi said and consider hanging back until we have a better idea of this place," Tippi said. "Maybe even leave and come back later when we can confirm they're all here and not just rely on some feeling."

"Yeah, I don't really feel like wasting any time on some stupid adventure for no reason," Bowser said. He turned around to the castle entrance only to see it closed. "Hey, how'd this door close?"

They all turned around to look at the locked door. "That's weird…neither of you two closed it, right?" Sora asked.

"No," Luigi said and began pulling on the door. When it didn't budge for him, Sora and Bowser soon joined in the efforts, but the door didn't budge an inch. It was locked up tight.

"How did this happen?" he asked.

Tippi started scanning around for an answer. Her ability to see hidden objects meant she could see a hidden lock or switch to open the door, and while neither of those things were hiding in the area, a very visible black cloaked figure stood by the door that lead deeper into the castle. "Guys!"

They all turned around. Sora locked eyes on the cloaked figure first. "Who is that!?"

Luigi grimaced. "How much do you want to bet it's a Heartless," he said and the three instantly jumped into action. A bright light flashed while Sora summoned his Keyblade, Bowser stood in front of Sora, claws ready for attack, Luigi stood on the other side of Bowser. The green plumber attempted to summon a fireball like he had many times before, but none came. "Come on!" He groaned and tried again.

"Let me try," Sora said. "Fire!" No fireball left the Keyblade. "Thunder!" Still no attack came. "Oh come on."

"Magic doesn't just stop working like that," Tippi said, but even she had to admit that it seemed that was exactly what happened. Any attack they'd used that had a resemblance to magic was useless.

"That's because they're magic didn't stop working," the cloaked figure said. "They don't know how to use it anymore."

"What do you mean by that?" Sora asked.

"Sora's right, you can't just unlearn magic," Tippi said.

"I should think it's obvious then," the figure said. "The moment you set foot inside this castle you forgot every spell and ability you knew...though the forgetting does not end there. In this place, to find is to lose and to lose is to find. That is the way of Castle Oblivion."

"Castle Oblivion?" Sora echoed.

The figure disappeared, his voice bringing Sora's attention to the locked door that he now stood in front of. "Yes…Here you will meet people you know…people you miss,"

"Look, there's no one-" Sora's words died on his lips as the realization hit him. "Riku! You mean Riku! He is here!"

"Do you want to find him? If you do…" The figure fired pink petals at Sora before flying through him while his guard was up. Sora attacked the figure with his Keyblade only to see it disappear into flower petals right as the weapon connected.

Sora began to look around before he once more saw the figure. "What'd you do?"

"I merely sampled your memories," the figure said. "And from them, I made this." He held up a card in his hands. The card was mostly a square with three spikes on top much like a castle. The picture on the card appeared to be dark streets. "To reunite you with those you hold dear." He tossed it to Sora.

"What's this, a card?"

"It is a promise for the reunion you seek," the figure said. "Hold the card to open the new door. And beyond it, a new world. Proceed, Sora. To lose and claim anew, or to claim anew only to lose…" With that, the figure vanished.

"Well..?" Luigi asked.

"Well what?" Sora asked in confusion.

"Do we use the card?"

"Of course we use it and see what he has to show us, right?"

"I…" Tippi seemed lost. "I don't trust him, or this card. Neither of them feel right." She fluttered over to the card. "I don't believe the door on the hall will open without it though, so if we want to continue, we have no choice."

"So it's settled then?" Sora asked. Bowser and Luigi nodded in agreement. "Let's go." He walked over to the door and lifted the card up. A bright light flashed.

When the light faded from their eyes, they were no longer in the pure white castle, but instead the dark streets of Traverse Town.

"We're in…Traverse Town?" Sora asked.

"That can't be right," Tippi said. "We…we were just in Castle Oblivion…"

"You're right," Sora said. "How'd we get here?"

"You didn't. What you see isn't real." The cloaked figure appeared in front of them. It waved one of its hands to gesture the area around them. "This town is an illusion, created by your memories ingrained in that card."

"My memories?" Sora asked. He looked to Tippi for guidance since she'd had a rather recent lack of them, but the Pixl seemed just as lost as him.

"I'm sorry Sora, I just don't know."

"That's okay, Luigi? Bowser?" Sora asked. Neither of the two responded. He turned around to see both of his partners gone. "Luigi! Bowser!"

"I sense them…but I don't see them," Tippi said. She did her best at pointing at the cloaked figure. "You had to have something to do with this. Where are they?"

"They are at the mercy of the cards now," the figure said. "Master the cards, and their strength will be yours again."

"Cards? What cards? Start making sense," Sora said. He summoned his Keyblade to his hand, preparing to face off against the figure when the figure threw two green cards into Sora's hand. The first had a picture of Luigi's face with his hand raised as though he were saying hello, the second a picture of Bowser with his arms crossed. "Huh?"

"I'm as lost as you are at this point," Tippi said. "My scans are saying those are Bowser and Luigi."

"What, that's impossible," Sora said.

"Not as impossible as you make it seem," the figure said. "The laws of the castle require your friends be transformed into cards. If you value them, you won't fail to keep them safe. Use the card, and your friends will come to your aid."

_Use the card? _Sora lifted up the card with Luigi on it and the green plumber reappeared in front of him. "Luigi!"

"Sora!" He waved. "Do you have any idea what just happened?"

Sora shook his head. "All I know is you were trapped in this card." He looked it over, the picture of Luigi still on the front.

"I doubt that I was trapped in a card…" Luigi said and grabbed the card. As soon as he grabbed it, the card glowed and Luigi went into a battle position. He sent a fireball at the cloaked man before vanishing. Shortly after he vanished, the card returned to Sora's hand.

"Huh?" He looked at the card in comparison to Bowser's. Bowser's was vivid in color while Luigi's was dull.

"The cards you use will run out of energy, but over time your friend's hearts will replenish it and refill the cards to be used again. Everything in this castle is ruled by the cards. No matter what confronts you, cards are the only way to proceed." Sora's and Tippi's attentions were brought back to the cloaked figure.

"That's a lie! He can still fight!" Tippi said. "He's not trapped in a card like Luigi and Bowser are."

"She's right, your cards can do nothing to me." Sora smirked and got into a fighting position. He went to run at the cloaked figure, but it simply glided around him and raised its hands. A set of blue cards appeared on the back attached to his Keyblade.

"Huh?" Sora lifted the Keyblade up and looked at the cards. "What are these for?"

"Those are the number of attacks you have left," the figure said. "When those run out, your Keyblade will disappear."

"Yeah right!" Sora ran at the figure as it continued to glide around him. Each attack continually missed, even with Tippi constantly shouting warnings and directions of where it was hiding. The number of cards dangling at the back continued to decrease, and just as Sora missed once again with the last attack, the Keyblade vanished in a glow of light. "What?"

"It is as I said, when you use up your cards, you'll be unable to attack," the figure said. "The card will return over time through your heart's strength, they're probably back already." To test this, Sora resummoned his Keyblade. It came back without difficulty and a brand new set of cards on the back. "Be wary however, the more times you do this, the longer it will take to do. The cards are by no means unlimited. Use them wisely."

"Is that it?" Sora asked. In response to Sora's question, the figure vanished, leaving behind a yellow card.

Tippi flew over and picked it up. "Key of Beginnings?"

"No idea, but we'd better hold onto it for now," Sora said and grabbed the card from her. The moment he grabbed it, Luigi and Bowser reappeared. "You guys are back!"

"Back?" Bowser asked in confusion. "We never left!"

"Yeah you did…" Sora said. "You don't remember anything?"

"Well, I remember that brief moment where I tried to attack that cloaked guy, but not really," Luigi said, "Just a while light."

"Reassuring…" Tippi said. "Do you guys think you can remember anything at all inbetween Castle Oblivion and now besides that brief moment."

"Nothing," Luigi said. "Sorry Tippi."

"That's okay, we'll figure it out," Tippi said.

Sora paused in thought for a moment. "I wonder if the cards had something to do with it…"

"That is for you to ponder." They all turned around to see the figure had appeared once more. "Master the cards and make your way through the castle. But from here, you walk alone."

_Did they come back here just to tell us that? _Sora shook his head. Whether that was the figure's motives or not didn't matter, what mattered was what was said.

"Alone!? We can't just leave Sora alone!" Luigi shouted.

"Yeah, he's hopeless without our help!" Bowser added in agreement.

"Thanks a lot, Bowser," Sora said. "Besides, I won't be alone, I have Tippi to help me out."

"You sure you'll be okay without us though?" Luigi asked.

"Of course!" Sora looked to the figure. "You want me to go alone. Fine. I can take care of myself."

"Hmph, the hero speaks boldly," the figure said. If it was possible, it might have been amused by Sora's confidence. "Go, then. The rest of Castle Oblivion awaits. Walk the avenues of latent memory, and you shall meet someone dear to you."

A bright light flashed as Luigi and Bowser disappeared, once more in their cards. The figure too had vanished, leaving Sora and Tippi alone.

"I have a bad feeling about this Sora," she said.

"Relax, Tippi. I'm ready for any tricks he's got up his sleeve," Sora said. "How hard can it be to figure out these cards anyways?" He looked over the yellow card. "Just hold it over in front that door over there, and when in battle don't attack too much so I don't run out."

"I'm not worried about your fighting abilities or your ability to adapt," Tippi said. "I just have a really bad feeling, about this whole castle."

"You want to find Riku, Blumiere, and Mario, right?" Sora asked.

"Of course, but-"

"Well, we're all agreed that they're here, so what better thing to do than start searching." Sora lifted up the yellow card by the door. It glowed for a moment before vanishing. "Come on, let's go."


	3. Chapter 2: Forgotten?

Stepping into the room, a rather familiar site greeted Sora and Tippi. No longer in Traverse Town's first district, they had somehow arrived inside the third one.

"I guess we'll be going through all of Traverse Town while here?" he asked.

She gave a sigh. "Sora, I'm just as clueless as you are right now. You're probably right, but who knows…"

"I feel like there's something hiding in here though," he said. As if called by his words, several Heartless appeared, slinking out from every little area they could hide in the room, under lamp posts, behind banners, and they swarmed.

"Heartless! All over, mostly Shadows, but there appear to be some Soldiers and a Large Body," Tippi said. "Do you need me to rescan them?"

"These guys?" Sora asked. "Nah, I remember how to beat them." He summoned his Keyblade to his hand and slashed at one of the Shadows. It vanished into a cloud of darkness while one of the cards on the back of his blade vanished in a flash of light. He turned to another one. "Fire!" Another card vanished as the flames exploded on impact, taking out two more Shadows and a Soldier.

"What did I tell you, nothing to-"

"Look out!" She interrupted his comment with a warning as he just barely managed to avoid the Large Body as it tried to slam into him. "There are still more Heartless, so don't go bragging!"

Sora rubbed the back of his head and chuckled weakly. "Right…" he pulled out Bowser's green card and lifted it up, causing the Koopa King to appear.

"Thanks Sora, I was totally looking forward to fighting right now," Bowser said, possibly with sarcasm for all Sora knew before he let lose a torrent of flames at the Large Body, causing it to release a heart as it disappeared. With the Large Body gone, only a handful of Shadows and two Soldiers remained. Trying to save his remaining cards, he spun his Keyblade around him, slaughtering the remaining Shadows in one hit, but also costing him three cards rather than the normal single cards. One of the Soldiers kicked at Sora, causing him to raise his Keyblade in defense before slashing at it, the counterattack killing it instantly. Two hits to the last Soldier later and the Heartless were taken out.

"Sora…" Tippi said. "You should have listened to me."

"Yeah, I know," Sora said frowned. "Fighting alone is a lot harder than I thought."

A bright flash of light appeared, and Luigi and Bowser appeared. "Well, that's strange…"

"Hey, don't just randomly appear like that!" Sora said.

"Well it's not like we can just choose when we appear," Bowser said. "You're the one with the cards."

"But I didn't call you out!" Sora responded.

"Can we not fight over that and focus on something else," Luigi said. "Like maybe how we ended up in Traverse Town all of a sudden. We still have to solve that mystery."

"Huh? Right," Sora said.

"It's not really Traverse Town," Tippi said. "Or…at least I don't think it is…I think we're still in the castle."

"Really? How then?" Bowser asked.

"Well, if you all remember, the cloaked figure gave Sora the card that took him here. I believe the card could have created this town inside Castle Oblivion," Tippi said. "I'm not sure how possible it is, but it seems more likely than the alternative of the castle somehow warping us to Traverse Town, but making us follow its rules with the cards."

"Aaghh, who cares about all that," Sora said. "It's too confusing! I don't even know where we are, but let's just keep moving forward defeating Heartless! We'll get somewhere!"

"You'd better be careful, or it's the Heartless that are going to defeat you." Approaching them from the entrance to the other districts was Leon.

The group all shared a look of confusion before Sora spoke. "Leon, it's you! What are you doing in Castle Oblivion?"

"Castle Oblivion?" Leon asked them in confusion. "What are you talking about? This is Traverse Town. And how do you know my name? Who are you?"

Sora gave the others a look of alarm, but Tippi was the one who gathered her wits quick enough to speak. "Leon, we met before."

"I've never met the likes of you in my life," Leon said.

"Quit playing, Leon!" Sora tried to laugh it off as a joke despite having never seen the man joke before. If it had been Yuffie, maybe, but Leon was always so serious. "We all fought the Heartless together! You know that!"

"Look I don't know what you're talking about," Leon said. "I don't even know your names."

"You sure about that?" Bowser asked.

"…Sorry."

"Well this is just great! How am I supposed to be a great king if nobody besides these three, the princess, and Mario ever remembers me?"

"Uh…Bowser..?" Deciding to ignore the Koopa King for now, Sora turned back to Leon. "How can you have forgotten about us?"

"I feel for you, but you've got the wrong guy," Leon said. "Happens all the time. Don't take it personally Sora."

A wave of shock passed through the four, and Tippi found her voice first. "Wait, now you know it?"

"Now-now hold on. Why do I know your name?" Leon asked in confusion.

"The joke's getting kind of old," Luigi said. "Not really all that great a prank."

"I'm not joking Luigi! You, Bowser, and Tippi are just-"

"So you do remember!" Luigi responded. He had been joking all along.

Leon grabbed onto his head. "I don't get it… Something's wrong with my memory. What's happening here?"

"I dunno Leon. Maybe Aerith was on to something." And out walked the cheerful ninja Yuffie as she waved to Sora and the others. "She said she sensed some uncanny kind of power. And asked us to look into it. Well, this is as uncanny as it gets. Maybe you should take Sora and co. to see Aerith."

"Yuffie, you know my name!" Sora was excited about this. If one of them remembered, perhaps it was just something weird about Leon. So long as the others remembered him, they could always figure it out later.

"Yep! Looks like you know mine, too," Yuffie said with a smile.

"You know him?" Leon asked.

"Nope! Total stranger." It had been too good to be true and Sora knew it, but he couldn't help but hope she'd remembered him even a little bit until she'd said those words. "But I definitely know his name. Strange, yes, but convenient. We can skip the introductions."

Leon just shook his head. "How is it that you can accept the situation so easily? I don't get you…"

"Well I'm gonna run ahead and fill Aerith in," Yuffie said. "Leon, you give them the grand tour. See ya later!" She waved and walked away.

"…I guess no use pondering over it. Come on, follow me." Leon walked in the direction of the house they were all staying in Traverse Town in before literally walking through the door.

"How..?" Sora asked.

"I don't even have an answer for that one…" If Tippi was without an explanation, it was likely the others would have about as good of an idea of how that happened.

"Well, all I know is that we're still here," Luigi said. "Which is weird, but I guess a bit helpful for now."

"Which means we've missed something…" Tippi said. "You two are only here so long as there's something in this room."

"Maybe it's a card then," Bowser said. "If you keep picking them up then we have to leave."

"Well, we can't just pass on cards if we want to get around this castle, right?" Sora asked.

"I guess…" Luigi said. Sora looked down to see a golden card and picked it up. As predicted, Bowser and Luigi vanished.

"We should keep moving forward," Tippi said. "Hopefully we'll arrive at another room they can be in soon."

"Right." Sora raised the card in front of the door and watched as the door glowed like the others at Castle Oblivion. He pushed on it before arriving in the house. Inside of which were Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie.

Behind Sora, Luigi and Bowser reappeared once more. "Hey look, everyone's here," Luigi said. "Well, everybody besides Cid."

"Hey Aerith, have you forgotten me too?" Sora asked her.

Aerith nodded and smiled sadly. "I don't know whether to say 'Nice to meet you' or 'Good to see you again.' I don't think I know you, but I still feel like you belong here."

"Yeah, exactly!" Yuffie said. "Like we've never met before, but it still doesn't feel weird knowing your name."

Sora fought back a groan. "But I'm telling you we have met. We took on the Heartless together! We were a team."

"It feels like you're right…" Leon shook his head. "But I can't remember."

"Then I guess you won't remember what you told me. In Hollow Bastion, when I sealed the Keyhole: 'We may never meet again…'"

"…but we'll never forget each other." Leon finished the statement before Sora could.

"See, you do remember!" Sora said. Tippi sighed.

"He's right, Leon! I remember you saying that too," Yuffie said.

"I guess I can't write it off as a coincidence then," Leon said.

"I don't have any memory of it," Aerith said, "but somehow I think I still remember. I think your heart is doing the remembering for us."

Sora looked at her confused. "My…heart?"

"We don't know you guys at all, but your hearts are full of memories of us together," Aerith said. "Those memories must resonate in our hearts too. Maybe they tell us things we couldn't otherwise know."

"So that's why…" Tippi mumbled. It had all made sense now, her heart resonated with those who knew of her world before, triggering the memories that had truly begun to return to her.

"Why what?" Luigi asked.

"It doesn't really matter," Tippi said. "Do you guys know why the memories are expressing themselves then, or maybe why you forgot in the first place?"

"I believe it's because Sora has powerful memories that are swaying our hearts to remember," Aerith said.

"Maybe it's like that guys said then," Sora said. "This town is just an illusion, something that my memories created."

"And…there's somebody special to you in this town?" Aerith asked.

"How did you-" he stopped, realizing the answer itself. "Ah I get it. My memories are resonating with yours, telling you what happened." He nodded. "Yeah. A friend of mine is somewhere in this town, I mean Castle Oblivion."

"Castle Oblivion? What's that?" Yuffie looked at Sora as though he had sprouted a second head. "There aren't any castles in here."

"That's not quite what I mean." Sora rubbed the back of his head slightly.

"You're still not sure what's going on yourself, right?" Aerith asked.

"Right," Tippi said. "We're still trying to figure out what's going on ourselves."

"Well, we're not gonna figure out this place's mystery by just standing around," Bowser said. "Let's get going already. These explanations are just plain confusing me."

Leon shrugged. "Then go for a walk around town," he suggested. "There are Heartless, but that's no problem for you."

"So you know I can fight?" Sora asked.

"I can't say I know, but I believe you," Leon said. "Let's just leave it at that."

"Well, thanks," Sora said with a smile and walked out of the room back into the third district. As soon as he left, Luigi and Bowser vanished once more, replaced by another card.

"We have one more door to check I guess," Tippi said. She flew over to the card and picked it up. "The door to the second district, right?"

"Well, if that's where this leads." Sora grabbed the card and walked over to the door before lifting up the card. The door glowed and let him through.

Behind him, Bowser and Luigi reappeared once more. "This is just getting annoying!"

"Sorry, I can't control it," Sora said with a sigh. Bowser just crossed his arms in response.

"Well whaddaya know?" Cid approached the four. "It's Sora!"

"You remember?" Sora asked in surprise.

"Remember? What? No, you just look like a Sora with the spiky hair and baggy pants. That is your name, right?" Cid asked.

"Yeah, Cid, that's my name," Sora said.

"So! You've heard of me?" Cid started smiling with pride that Sora knew who he was. "Well I can't say as I'm surprised."

"Anyways…" Sora decided to change the subject. "A friend of mine's supposed to be somewhere in here. Do you have any ideas?"

"Your friend, huh?" Cid asked. "Lately all this town sees is Heartless. Can't even take two steps without gettin' attacked. In fact, this plaza's the worst. Word is, a jumbo-sized Heartless shows up when that bell rings. If you value your hide, you'll get outta here while the gettin's good." He left the second district.

"A Heartless, huh?" Sora asked. "Didn't the Keyhole appear when the bell rang last time?"

"Yes, and we fought O'Chunks," Tippi said. "I bet it's one of the ways Castle Oblivion has changed it…"

"We should find out what it is then," Sora said.

"Are you kidding? We should leave before the Heartless attacks!" Bowser said. "It's not like anybody's really here, nobody will die if we don't kill it."

"Don't you want to see the Heartless though?" Sora asked.

"Not really," Luigi said.

"Well I-" interrupting Sora's phrase was the sound of a ringing bell. He summoned the Keyblade to his hands as Bowser and Luigi vanished once more.

"Be careful, Sora," Tippi said. The Heartless landed on the ground in front of Sora, a very familiar Heartless.

"Guard Armor!" Sora realized, remembering the fight as the first time he'd fought alongside his new friends.

"I'll scan again," Tippi said. "That's a Guard Armor Heartless. It's made of six individual segments that can all attack at once. If you take out the arms and legs, its head will be left defenseless."

"That's right, I remember this thing." Sora ran at the Heartless, attacking the arms like he did the first time he fought it. This time, however, the Heartless instead started stomping him with its feet, causing him to stop his attack and run backwards. "I don't think Peach's idea from last time will works."

"Considering you're three people less, that isn't really a surprise…" Tippi sighed. "Try going after him from a distance while he's attacking."

"Worth a try." Sora pointed his Keyblade at the Guard Armor's feet. "Fire!" A fireball flew out the tip of the Keyblade, causing the feet to light on fire momentarily before the fire disappeared. He rolled out of the way of an attack from the arms before using fire once more on the feet, dealing more damage and causing the left foot to disappear. "Hey Tippi, good idea."

"Thanks, but you're not clear yet," Tippi said and he turned around only to get clawed at by the arms of the Heartless. He recoiled back before pulling out a Luigi card.

"Luigi!"

"This thing again?" Luigi asked. "Well, so long as I'm here I got the leg."

"Thanks." Sora charged at the arms while he watched Luigi start sending green fireballs at the remaining foot. He seemed to be doing alright, so Sora concentrated on the arms once more and slashed at it with his Keyblade, the arms retaliated by trying to claw at him, but he raised his Keyblade and forced it back before throwing it at the left arm, causing it to disappear. He resummoned his Keyblade and looked for Luigi, who had vanished along with the remaining foot.

"One more part to go." This one he could handle. He started slicing at the clawed hand while it tried and failed to get a hit on him. Within five slashes of the Keyblade, the hand arm was gone, leaving just the torso and the head. The torso started to spin around rapidly, causing Sora to run out of the way before it fell over, the head on the floor. All it took were a couple of hits to the head and the Heartless vanished, leaving behind a pink crystal heart.

"Nice job," Tippi said.

"Thanks." He nodded. It wasn't too bad to defeat it, although still not as easy as the first time.

"So, was your friend here?" He turned around to see Yuffie, Aerith, Leon, and Cid.

"No, I don't think I'll find him in this town." Sora shook his head. "But he's somewhere in this castle, I know it."

"Castle? Like this whole town is in a humongous castle?" Cid seemed skeptical of the idea.

"He's probably right, Cid," Leon said. "We may not understand what's going on, but Sora does. He can see that reality is bigger than this world."

"I wish I was that sure," Sora said with a sigh.

"You'll be okay, Sora. No matter what shape reality takes, you can handle it. I may not remember you, but I know you in my heart."

Leon did have a point. "Leon…"

"Take care, Sora." Yuffie waved to him.

"I'm just a little lost…but best of luck anyways." With Cid's final comment, the four Traverse Town residents left, leaving Sora behind them.

"We should get moving if we want to figure out the secrets of this castle," Luigi said.

"Yeah, make way for the Koopa King!" Bowser and Luigi went to find the exit to the Traverse Town room, leaving Sora and Tippi behind.

"We should follow them." As Tippi went to get going, Sora stopped her.

"Hang on a second." He pointed to Aerith "What's up?"

"I don't have all the answers, but I had to tell you something," Aerith said. "Your memories created this town, right?"

Sora shrugged. "That's what the guy who gave me the card said."

"If that's true, then this town is just a figment of your imagination…and so are we…"

"But…you can't be a figment! You're standing right here. This town is here too!" Sora looked at Aerith in shock.

"Sora, she might be right," Tippi said. "Can you explain?"

"I'm not really me," Aerith said. "I don't remember the things I should. And I sense things I shouldn't. Sora, beware your memories. In the journey to come, you'll be faced with more illusions. Sometimes the shadows of your memory will deceive you, try to lead you astray."

"So, uh…what does that mean?" Sora asked.

"I'm sorry. I'm just another illusion. The truth is out of my reach." Aerith looked down, upset that she couldn't help them more.

"Don't say stuff like that, it's depressing," Sora said,

"Stay strong, Sora." Aerith gave him one last bit of advice. "Don't let the illusions distract you from what's truly important."

_Illusions…distract me?_ Sora looked over at Tippi in confusion, but she didn't know much more about this than he did and simply gave him a confused look in response. "…Okay…"

"Sora!" He turned around to see Bowser and Luigi, staring at him impatiently. "Are you ready to go yet?"

"Yeah, just a second." He turned back to Aerith. "Well I'd better be going-Aerith?" She was gone, just him and Tippi stood there.

"She vanished the moment you looked away." Tippi tried to explain it, but she was slightly worried. Aerith, even if she was an illusion as she said, shouldn't have just randomly vanished.

"What about Aerith?" Luigi asked.

"I was just talking to her," Sora said.

"Aerith left with Leon and the others," Bowser said. "We just figured you wanted to talk with Tippi or something."

"Is this what she meant…" Sora wondered aloud.

"I don't know, but we'll have to be more careful about this in the future if that's the case," Tippi said. She hung back a second or two after Sora left. "I wonder…" She shook her head. She could figure out if the castle had something to do with the feeling later and for now, she just had to believe that Riku, Mario, and Blumiere were in the castle like the others did. She flew after them.


	4. Chapter 3: Got it Memorized

Following their exit to Traverse Town, the four found themselves back within the white halls of Castle Oblivion.

"I can't say I'm surprised," Tippi said. "Which means the town really was made of your memories Sora…"

Sora frowned. "So Aerith was right…"

"We already told you, Aerith wasn't there, so stop bringing it up." Bowser glared at Sora.

"Hey, sorry, geez." Sora looked to Luigi and Tippi for help.

"Forget about it for now, we can deal with it later so long as we remember her warning." Tippi reasoned.

"Well, Sora? Did you enjoy meeting with your memories?" The four looked in front of them, standing in front of the next door was the same cloaked figure from before.

"Yeah, it was good to see everyone again." Sora nodded, trying to ignore the fact that they were actually fake despite being there. "But why show me an illusion? What do you really want from me?"

"What do you have to give?" The figure walked towards Sora, causing him to summon his weapons and Bowser and Luigi to enter into a fighting position.

Before the battle could start, another voice spoke. "Boo." The voice's owner was a red head with incredibly spiky hair and bright green eyes. Underneath those eyes were two tear drop tattoos. Like the figure, he wore the same black cloak.

"What do you want?" the figure asked, its eyes narrowed.

"No hogging the hero." The man waved his finger in false disappointment and scolding.

"The perhaps you'd like to test him?"

"Perhaps I would." With the red haired man's words, the cloaked figure vanished.

"My show now, Keyblade Master." He smirked.

"Who are you?" Sora asked.

"Me? Oh, my name's Axel. Got it memorized?" He pointed to his head with his finger as he said it.

"Uh…sure..?" Sora looked at the red head in confusion.

Axel looked happy. "Good, you're a quick learner. So Sora, now that we're getting to know each other better…" He summoned two silver chakrams with red spiked tips, "don't you go off and die on me now!"

"So much for friendly," Sora said and got into a fighting stance. 'Tippi?"

"That's Axel, a fire wielding man with an attitude. He fights using his chakrams and fire, but so long as you have Luigi and Bowser on your side, you should be alright so long as he doesn't try to set you on fire."

"Set him on fire, I like that idea." Axel surrounded the area with a wall of flames and ran at Sora with his chakrams. Sora lifted up his Keyblade and forced Axel back, right into a flood of flames from Bowser.

"Yeah!" Bowser laughed only to need to duck into his shell moments later as Axel attacked him with his chakrams.

"What a great idea," he remarked with sarcasm. "Set the pyro on fire, what a great solution."

"How about ice then?" Sora sent a ball of ice at Axel, which he jumped out of the way of and in front of Luigi, who punched him and caused him to jump back, the attack barely missing. He turned around to see Sora with his Keyblade running at him. He stepped to the side, but not quickly enough to avoid the Keyblade's slash. The hit knocked Axel backwards and into Bowser's waiting claws. The claws raked his side once before he pulled up his chakram and blocked it, forcing Bowser back. He threw his chakrams in different directions, one at Bowser and one at Luigi, both of them hitting their targets and returning to his hands moments later.

"Now that they're out of the way…" He ran at Sora, who lifted up his Keyblade to block, blocking one successfully and being hit by the other. He cringed, but pushed back on Axel so the man fell backwards once more.

"Freeze!" This time, the ice magic hit its target, knocking him down to the ground as he disappeared in a cloud of darkness.

"That was too easy…" Sora said.

"Who cares if it was easy, let's just go." Bowser grumbled.

Sora walked over to wear Axel stood and looked down to see another card in his place. "Hey, another card."

"Another one?" Luigi asked. "What's it do?"

Tippi flew above them both to get a look at it. "It's like the one that you used to summon Traverse Town back there."

"Then I guess we need to keep going," Sora said.

"That's right." There was no way it was possible, but standing by the entrance to the next room of the castle was Axel, leaning against the wall casually.

"Axel?"

"Did you really think after that introduction I would give up oh so easy?" He approached them with a mocking glance.

"You were testing us," Sora said.

"And you passed." Cue the sarcastic slow clap. "Congratulations, Sora! You're ready now—ready to take on Castle Oblivion. You will need to follow your memories. Trust what you remember and seek what you forget. Then you will find someone very special."

"You mean Riku, Mario, and Blumiere?" Tippi asked.

"You will just have to give some more though to who it is that's most important to you," Axel said. "Our most precious memories lie so deep inside our hearts that they are out of our reach. But I'm sure you can find yours Sora."

Tippi might have flown at him and strangled him for his nonanswer if Sora hadn't spoken up. "Why me?"

"You have lost sight of the light within the darkness. And it seems you've forgotten what you forgot."

"The light within the darkness…" _Does he mean Kairi? I haven't forgotten her though…_ Sora shook his head. Axel hadn't made any sense.

"Would you like me to give you a hint?" Axel taunted him.

"Are you really gonna need that hint Sora?" Bowser asked.

"No, I'm gonna figure it out on my own." Sora shook his head. "If you're in my way—"

"Don't worry Sora, we've got your back." Luigi jumped in between Sora and Axel.

"Good answer, just what I'd expect from the Keyblade Master." Axel snickered. "But be forewarned…when your sleeping memories awaken you may no longer be who you are."

Axel disappeared into a dark portal and vanished, leaving behind more of the cards.

"That…" Tippi sighed.

"You okay Tippi?" Sora asked, slightly concerned.

"Some of the things Axel said just…" Tippi turned away. "Sora, you're not worried? We don't remember who's most important to us? You may not be who you are? How can you not be worried?"

"Well, I'm not sure about that because I'm pretty sure Riku and Kairi are most important to me, Mario and Peach are most important to Luigi and Bowser, and Blumiere's most important to you, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. If they we don't remember them, they can't be that important, right?" Sora smiled. "And me not being me, who else can I be?"

"I guess…" Tippi sighed. "I wish I was as confident about this as you are…we just have to be careful."

"You're worried you'll lose your memories again, right?" Sora asked. "Or that you might still be missing some?"

"It's not that…well maybe, but…" Tippi couldn't figure out how to explain the bad feeling she got in the castle, and from Axel and the cloaked figure. "Just be careful, okay?"

"We'll be okay," Sora said. "Whatever they throw at us, we'll be able to face it together!"

"Like when we were travelling with Blumiere through his castle," Luigi said.

"When did we do that?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, I don't remember traveling with him in a castle," Bowser said.

"But I'm sure of it," Luigi said. "In the castle he renamed Castle Bleck and took over. It was Hollow…something or other…"

"Are you sure you aren't making that up?" Bowser looked at him skeptically. "I don't remember us going through that. You two?"

"I was asleep when you first travelled with Blumiere," Tippi said.

"I don't remember that at all…" Sora shook his head.

"No, it definitely happened!" Luigi insisted.

"It doesn't matter whether it happened or not right now." Tippi interrupted them before anybody could argue. "What matters is why do you remember something that we don't? Are you remembering true memories, or are we forgetting?"

"I guess we'll find out if we keep going." Sora raised a card to the door and it glowed. "Let's keep moving."


End file.
